blogger blog 1 year and 1 day old

i was looking back and discovered that i have been blogging on blogger since the day after my 31st birthday ... i hadn't realized that i had done that! i love to go back and read my archived blogs - i wonder if the angels will one day read from these pages?!

thanks for your comments - they make me happy!!

Happy Blogging!

shhhh - don't tell my mom ...

yesterday was a fantabulous day! i got to spend the day with my handsome husband. he had appointments in bellingham and blaine and then we had lunch at red robin - one of our favorite restaurants. our original plan was to be home about the time the girls got out of school. when we left home we were behind schedule ... we were 30 minutes late to the first appt. and 15 minutes late to the second ... but right on time to the third ... we left blaine at 1:30ish and arrived at bellingham red robin about 2:15 (we had to search for an internet connection and send off a file before lunch). we sat down at 2:30 starving - i hadn't thought about needing snacks on this road trip! we ate and talked and at 3:00 realized that we were not going to make it to get the girls. i called my mom (she was with the boys) and asked her to go get them, she said it was no problem and to take our time. as we headed home, andy suggested that we stop at the outlet mall and see if we could find me a birthday present - great idea! i suggested that we pull over at the nearest rest stop ... to ... go potty ... and ... um ... kiss ... a lot. after some kissing, the car was getting warm so i turned the key so i could roll down the window a little. after much making out in our steamy car {it's not illegal when you're married, i did some extensive internet research just now!}, i looked at the clock ... SHOOT! that old adage "time flies when you're having fun" - true business! it was already 4:30!! i turned the key in the ignition ... nothin' not even a try - the battery was TOTALLY dead! the nice guy we asked to give us a jump said he didn't have cables but offered his jump start box and our battery was so dead it took our jumper cables linked to his car battery AND the jump starter to get our car running! there is something wrong with andy's alternator it's a good thing we had jumper cables or we might still be there ... making out! ;)


when we were back on the freeway, i called my mom again to explain and ask for more time ... the conversation went something like this:

me: mom, we had some car trouble.

mom: where are you?

me: back on the freeway now ... but when we stopped at a rest stop to go potty, we couldn't get the car started for a little bit.

mom: but you're on the road now.

me: yes, and i was wondering ... would it be ok for us to stop at the outlets for a little bit?

mom: how long will it take you?

me: not long, i just want to look for a shirt at a couple stores.

mom: ok ... let me know when you're headed here.

me: thanks mom! see you soon.

ok ... so i didn't lie ... we did go potty ... it was more like a 'lie by omission'. don't hate me because i'm embarrassed to tell my own mother that i was making out with my husband!?

after a short stop at the outlets ... we arrived home just as mom was fixing dinner for the kids.

it was a GREAT 32nd birthday!

due also in part to my little big sister and my jennycook and my alicia and all the great people that called and wished me well.

ps. i already called my mom and confessed my sin - i know you wanted to call and snitch on me! neener neener.

pondering and journaling

in today's sacrament meeting one of the talks was prepared JUST for me ... she centered her talk around this talk by Pres. Eyring. you should read it - go ahead - i'll wait ...

in an effort to be closer to my Heavenly Father and recognize that he really does touch my life everyday, i am going to take Pres. Eyring's suggestion and make it a part of my daily life.

as i was pondering about this, i was surfing my favorite blogs and happened upon this one. Chelle's darling little Katherine touched my heart and i realized/remembered that Heavenly Father uses others to touch our lives ... because he can't be here to do it and we need the opportunity! and then i started thinking that it's my job to listen and act when i hear his whispered suggestions and promptings so that i can be an insturment in the hands of the Lord.

how has the Lord's hand touched your life today?

Happy Birthday from your BIG little sister!

it's somebody's birthday - i'm wondering who?

a little buddy who's right in these pictures ...

a little buddy who's happy and gay (aka: merry; full of light-heartedness and merriment)

happy and smiling, by golly say when ...

Happy Birthday, Jennalee, from your BIG little sister to you!

Happy Birthday, Jennalee, and may all of your day dreams come true!
I congratulate you ... your Ricky and kiddies too!

Happy Birthday, Jennalee

and may all of your day dreams come true!

"sisters, sisters, there were never such devoted sisters!"

(by the way ... jennalee stiched this for me - she's the best, and crafty too!)

better late than never ...

happy earth day [yesterday] ...

at abi's request, we celebrated Earth Day by picking up trash on one of the trails that we take when we walk to school. we have a bunch of trails through our neighborhood and abi comments on the litter frequently. andy came home early and we got gloves and bags for everyone, the stroller for easton and loaded in the van. we parked at one end of the trail - unloaded with our gear and headed down the trail in search of "all the things that didn't belong in nature."

look at all the stuff i found, mom!

we love you, Earth!

the evolution of road rash

easton is over a year and a half ... it's about time that he get dumped out of the stroller. i did a little research and found ammon's - he wasn't quite a year when it happened to him!

last saturday (the one hot day so far this spring) we spent the day outside enjoying the sun. we walked over to our YMCA for the 'healthy kids' day. then while i was preparing munchies to take to the zoo, andy was outside with the kids. he had easton in the umbrella stroller. easton's favorite thing to do while in the stroller is lean down and feel the wheel rolling ... he relies on the strap to hold him. he wasn't properly restrained and took a header. andy rushed in apologizing with blood coming from easton's head and nose covering the 2 of them (i exaggerate - andy only had a little spot on his jacket where easton had rubbed against him). it looked pretty bad but we cleaned him up and gave him some tylenol and headed to the zoo! [with 1 million other people! the line to pay was huge! and we slipped into the short membership enterance line - gotta love being a member!!]

our 'spring snow storm'

where was this at christmas?!

this is what greeted us this morning!
grab your hat and gloves and come on over ... we've got snow!!

do rodents really know?

as demonstrated last year 'mr. groundhog day' doesn't really have the handle on the weather that he thinks he does!

Phil's official forecast as read 2/2/08 at sunrise at Gobbler's Knob:
Hear Ye! Hear Ye! Hear Ye!
On Gobbler's Knob on this fabulous Groundhog Day, February 2nd, 2008
Punxsutawney Phil, the Seer of Seers, Prognosticator of all Prognosticators, Rose to the call of President Bill Cooper and greeted his handlers, Ben Hughes and John Griffiths. After casting a weather eye toward thousands of his faithful followers, Phil consulted with President Cooper and directed him to the appropriate scroll, which proclaimed: "As I look around me, a bright sky I see, and a shadow beside me. Six more weeks of winter it will be!"

now i ask you ... how many weeks has it been since this prediction?? answer: many more than 6 ... more than half again as many ... almost twice as many!!

sad snowman ...

let's just skip spring already and head right into summer! come on SUN!

ps. i'm sad to report that it's STILL coming down ... we've got almost 2 inches!! BAH!!

what is love? baby, don't hurt me ...

one-hit-wonder haddaway's song is running thru my head ... and now your's too, i suppose! (and don't even worry - i just added it to my playlist!)

i'm not going to share my views on love and what i think about relationships and such ... something much more fun!!

i picked up the girls from school and while we were headed home abi asked me the most curious question.
"mom, have you ever had that feeling when you're close to the boy that you love and you get all clumsy and you can't talk right?"
i looked at her in my rearview mirror and said, "yes ... are you feeling that way about a boy?"
"not just one boy, 2 boys ..."
"don't think you love them ... i think you just like them a lot. you're twitterpated."
"twitter-what? what is that?"
"that means you get that feeling ... not in love."
"no mom, it's love."
"you remember our rules though, right? we don't have boyfriends until we're 16."
"i know ... "

then elyssa chimed in that she loved 3 boys and they got into a discussion about who were their favorite boys and who's cuter than who, effectively ousting me from the conversation.

that night while tucking them into bed, i brought it up again. we talked about what's appropriate (by the way - that's the word she used) and that we keep our hands and lips to ourselves.
"mom, it's a rule at school - we aren't allowed to kiss people."
"that's a good rule."

andy and i looked at each other - too funny ... and yet scary! she's 7 years old, people!

i think it's such a shock to my system because of my own experience ... i was president of the kirkland branch of the VL (virgin lip) club until i was 19! yes, folks, that means i went thru highschool without being kissed ... quite a feat, i know. i was bff with all the guys ... not a love interest. that being said, i didn't even really want to be kissed until i was in 9th grade and had the hots for TB ... and he didn't even really know i existed, let alone wanted to kiss me! (i really should write all these stories down ... they're good ones!)

andy thinks it's a little crazy - but he's taking it in stride.
"she is our first and we are learning ... maybe this happens at this age."
his first kiss was in 7th grade (he thinks) and he was so shy that he didn't talk very much and his girlfriend broke up with him because he was too quiet.

basically ... we're in trouble! i'm just glad that she's talking to us about it! say a little prayer for us!!

elyssa's 6th birthday!

last friday morning she came into my room at 6:55AM and reminded me that i was supposed to come in and sing to her ... 'when i wake up i will, go get back in your bed!'

abi came in next, 'mom - we're supposed to wake up elyssa and sing to her - she's on her bed ... but she's not asleep, she's faking.'

Happy Birthday to you!!

before school we went to Libby Lu and nicki got her that fantastic sweatshirt ('high school musical' - here we come! we haven't been exposed to it as of yet ... nicki invited us to have a girl's night at her house! nails, make-up, hairdos, and watch high school musical!)

after Libby Lu we went to lunch in the mall with granny! (i'm waiting for a picture from granny)

and finally we went to lyssa's class and brought snack and balloons!

what a fun day!!

and i think we've created a make-up monster ... i'll share those pictures later!

hooray for baby showers!

Tiff's getting a boy this time!! hooray for baby showers - yet another excuse to party with the girls!! the felt's all came up for conference weekend and tiff stayed with us and her clan stayed with brian's brother! it was a great weekend!

here's the darling hat from her sister-in-law karen

and the diaper bag that she registered for from nicki (she's very excited about this one!)

and the dapper church outfit from katie - he's gonna be the best dressed baby on the pennisula!

it was a great time had by all - food, friends, fun ... what more do we need?!

for the record ...

my play list is AWESOME ... i didn't find some of the ones i was looking for but there are 73 songs from here and there and they all take me back! i should take some time and write down why i love them all ... but for now i'll just post the list!

Cliffs Of Dover -- Eric Johnson
We Are In Love -- Harry Connick Jr.
Young Love -- The Judds Ice Ice Baby -- Vanilla Ice
Forever Young -- Alphaville
Faithfully -- Journey
Thriller -- Michael Jackson
Oh Yeah -- Yello
Yeah -- Usher
You're Still The One -- Shania Twain
Daddys Hands -- Holly Dunn
Grandpa -- Judds
Mama He's Crazy -- The Judds
Love Can Build a Bridge -- Naomi Judd/The Judds
Love Is Alive -- The Judds
Turn It Loose -- The Judds
Girls Night Out -- The Judds
Lost In Love -- Air Supply
The Gambler -- Kenny Rogers
The Greatest -- Kenny Rogers
Buy Me A Rose -- Kenny Rogers
When I Fall in Love -- Celine Dion and Clive Griffon
Walk On -- Reba McEntire
Check Yes Or No -- George Strait
I Cross My Heart -- George Strait
Blue Clear Sky.mp3 -- George Strait
If I Had Only Known -- Reba McEntire
Make Someone Happy -- Jimmy Durante
Anyone At All - Carol King, George Fenton
I've Had The Time Of My Life -- Dirty Dancing Soundrack
Somebody -- Depeche Mode
Only Hope -- Mandy Moore
More Than A Feeling -- Boston
Only One Friend Left -- Dan Seals
Sold (The Grundy County Auction Inc -- John Michael Montgomery
Angels Among Us -- Alabama
The Dance -- Garth Brooks
Even Cowboys Like A Little Rock And Roll -- Chris Ledoux
Mysterious Ways -- U2
Numb -- U2
Babyface -- U2
I Still Havent Found What Im Looking For -- U2
Billy Joel - And So it Goes -- Billy Joel
Lullbye (Goodnight, My Angel) -- Billy Joel
Just the Way You Are -- Billy Joel
We Didn't Start the Fire -- Billy Joel
Butterfly Kisses -- Bob Carlisle
Wonderful Tonight -- Eric Clapton
Satellite -- Dave Matthews Band
Recently -- Dave Matthews Band
Wind Beneath My Wings -- Bette Middler
After All -- Cher & Peter Cetera
Forever Young -- Rod Stewart
Kiss Me -- Sixpence None the Richer
You're So Vain -- Carly Simon
Somebody Like You -- Keith Urban
Feels Like Home -- Chantal Kreviazuk
L.O.V.E. -- Frank Sinatra
Love Is A Battlefield -- Pat Benatar
Crazy For You -- Madonna
Head Over Heels -- The Go-Go's
I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me) -- Whitney Houston
Tainted Love -- Soft Cell
Everybody Have Fun Tonight -- Wang Chung
Don't You Worry 'Bout a Thing -- Stevie Wonder
Footloose -- Kenny Loggins
Holding Out for a Hero -- Bonnie Tyler
Some Kind Of Wonderful -- The Drifters
Do You Love Me? -- The Contours
Love Man -- Otis Redding
Danger Zone -- Kenny Loggins
Return To Pooh Corner -- Kenny Loggins
Rainbow Connection - Kermit -- Disney

april is slipping away

wow ... it's already the 9th and i haven't posted a thing! i have some ideas swirling around my little brain ... i'm chewing on them like the Cool Watermelon stick of Extra gum i'm chomping. (it's my secret - instead of putting candy in my mouth ... i pacify myself with yummy, savory, flavorful gum! only 5 calories per stick!)

i'll post soon - i promise!